The Leibster Blogger Award

Wow.

I scarcely know what to say or how to begin.

Yesterday I received a huge surprise.  I happened to follow Before & After  author Karen C. L. Anderson's link she posted to her blog via Facebook.  I wondered why she tagged me in that FB link.  I just figured she wrote about something she thought I’d enjoy.

Instead I found this post and learned I had been given an award.

And for the first time in a long time, I was dumbfounded.  I was speechless.  I was honored.  I was humbled.  And yes, I was overjoyed!

Karen has been following TJC for just over a year now and I have always enjoyed her comments and trusted her insights.  Her blog is truly one of my top 3 blogs I go to for inspiration.  And her book even more so. She tells her story of not merely losing weight, but coming to love and accept herself, and finding success in that journey.  I often find her to be at the place I hope to be someday.  And yet, she stumbles and bumps like the rest of us—and she shares that too.

Thank you Karen.

The Leibster Blogger Award (Leibster being German for dearest) is designed for bloggers with less than 200 followers.  From what I can tell, the award goes back to at least 2006. It’s changed and mutated a bit according the “rules” but it seems like it is always has been for those “up and comers” with small readerships—those blogs that others believe should have a wider readership.  And like most of these blog awards, it comes with some instructions:

• Thank the donor and link back to their blog
• Describe your five choices for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
• Post the award on your blog
• Encourage the people who receive it to list their five favorites

For my 5, I’m not sure if the winners will even recognize me as a reader of their blogs.  See, I do a lot of lurking, but most often don’t comment unless I truly believe I can add something to the article or comment conversations.  And I don’t always have the wherewithal to follow them consistently.  But each of the 5 I’m passing the award forward to have, in some way, inspired me.

First there is Farida at Saints & Spinners.  She is one of two IRL friends whose blogs I follow.  Well, I say IRL, but we haven’t seen each other since college.  And we’re not sure that we ever spoke with each other there either despite the several classes we had together.  It’s a long story that perhaps I’ll tell one day.  Suffice it to say that a serendipitous reconnect 4 years ago online has become one of the strongest friendships I have.

Farida is a musical story teller in Seattle, as well as a craft maker who sells items on Etsy.  Her blog is a little bit storytelling, a little bit crafting, a little bit about her life, a little bit book review and a little bit about whatever interests her.  Lately fitness has become a big interest and has trained for a 5K as well as a competition to race up the stairs of one of Seattle’s largest skyscrapers.  And she writes a little bit about that too.

Frankly speaking, if it weren’t for Farida hanging in there with me from the beginning of my first blog and following me over to the stable, I’m sure I would not be blogging now.  She gets this award for truly being my dearest blogger friend.  And my IRL friend too.

Second comes Big Clyde at The Clydesdale Project.  Big Clyde understands what it is to be, well, a big guy trying to get his health back and his weight down.  Often times our stories are parallel enough to be scary.  He writes about his cycling, but also interweaves his life and work in a seamless way.  And the thing I most appreciate in BC is dedication to being a father and husband first.  It’s nice to read about a fellow dad in this here health & fitness blogosphere (not that other guys aren’t great dads; just that I find very few who write about it).  In BC I’ve found a friend not only on our respective blogs but also at Dailymile.com where the encouragement is needed oftentimes.

Third in my list is Samantha at Run4Fun2 which might be somewhat of a surprise for her as I don’t think I’ve ever left a comment on her blog.  Samantha keeps her blog pretty limited to her training and racing, though sometimes she lets us have a peek at her life too.  I enjoy reading her reports because they are so descriptive.  Whereas a lot of runners write about their splits and fartleks and tempo runs and a lot of jargon that goes over my head, she writes about her runs. About what she saw. What she experienced.  Sometimes about what she felt.  More than any other blogger I read, her posts make me “experience” her runs.

Fourth is Amanda at It’s All About the Walls.  Again, another blogger that I think might be surprised as I rarely leave comments over there too.  I’ve been trying to put my finger on exactly what it is about her blog.  The only thing I can really think of, and I really, really hope she’s not offended by this, is what I recognize as a nerdy sense of humor.  She really puts her life out there, speaking rather matter of fact (though with exquisite humor) about her health issues.  She also writes about what’s going on in her life and her struggles with losing weight.  She’s often over here at the stable to lend me some encouragement; I often wish that I had the words to reciprocate back on her blog. As one commenter wrote to me here at the stable, always reading even if I seldom write.

Finally is a blogger who I am sure will be surprised.  Kendra over at I’mTotally the Turtle is my final pick.  She’s not been blogging a lot lately as she’s in the final months of her pregnancy (or perhaps even beyond that for a bit).  And, honestly, when I was going through my battles with depression and didn’t have the energy to read other blogs, hers was one that fell by the wayside.  However, I love her voice in what she writes.  She writes with a simple honesty.  She writes about her struggles with weight and health issues, but also being a mom, a wife, a woman.  She writes about being herself.  She shares little tidbits of inspiring quotes and other bits of what she finds around the web.  I hope that she finds her way back to blogging.

There were many others that I could have, perhaps should have, included.  But these are the writers with small followings that I go to time and time again when I need inspiration.

And that concludes The Jogging Clydesdale’s presentation of the Leibster Blog Awards.  You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. 

 Thank you and good night.